HOW TO GET YOUR SOLO/DUET/MONOLOGUE ETC READY FOR COMPETITION
Choose the right solo for you
What is right for you is not necessarily right for someone else
Your piece should be age appropriate
Is it a role you could reasonably be cast in right now?
What is right for a 5th grader is wildly different from what is right for a high school senior. A High school senior is not going to fit in a role like Matilda, Winnie Foster, the kids in Mary Poppins, anyone from 13 the musical, Oliver, Cosette, Winthrop, the kids in School or Rock, the Secret Garden etc the way a fifth grader would.
That same fifth grader should not be playing an adult who is grappling with difficult life decisions that are well beyond the scope of what they can play convincingly. Does that mean every adult character is off-limits? Absolutely not. But choose something that is reasonable
Your piece should be racially appropriate for you.
What is appropriate for someone else to play may not be appropriate for you. If that role was written for anyone to play then great! But a Caucasian actor should not be doing Miss Saigon or A Raisin in The Sun for example.
This can be confusing and don’t be afraid to reach out for help navigating this. If our staff is not able to guide you well enough here we are happy to connect you with someone who is.
Your material should be appropriate to your age
.Look at the content of a piece. There are a lot of great works out there that deal with mature subject matter (Maybe this Time from Cabaret, or Someone Like You from Jekyll and Hyde or anything from Rent, Dance Ten Looks Three, or She Used to Be Mine from Waitress etc) these pieces may be great material for a high school student to dig into and explore but not the right choice for middle school. Remember, even if YOU think you are mature for your age and ready to take that on, you are competing in a room of others in YOUR grade. A judge may not love seeing a middle school student dealing with complex matters of sex, boob jobs and drugs etc and they will be jarring choices set in comparison to a long day of watching your peers playing children or Peanuts characters.
Pick something that is not wildly overdone
Examples of what NOT to choose: anything sung by a Disney Princess in any animated movie, anything from Sound Of Music, Charlie Brown, Annie, Cinderella, Grease, Les Mis, Cats etc). Yes these songs are beloved for a reason but we have all heard them SO many times and chances are those judges have grown up listening to the greatest artists on broadway singing them on repeat. Unless you can do it better find something more obscure to help your chances at making it your own.
Honestly, if you do it better than anyone else has ever done it before then go ahead and ignore this one but really if its one your uncle who doesn’t watch musicals knows, its probably too overdone.
Pick something that shows off YOUR strengths.
Are you a belter? Do you have a beautiful lilting soprano? Are you incredible at really accessing emotions in your story telling? Can you tap dance? Find what makes YOU special and then use that to motivate what piece you choose.
PREPARE YOUR PIECE
Now that you chose your piece it’s time to put in the WORK. This is not going to be easy.
STEP 1) Understand the story you are telling
Know the basics (You MUST be able to answer these questions, these are not for you to make up, these are the facts the writer gave you when they wrote the story. Do not add your own interpretation to this part. There’s room for that later)
Who is your character?
Where are they?
Who you are talking to?
What is happening / just happened before this moment in the story?
If you haven’t read/seen the show fix that NOW, you need to know the story, in detail
STEP 2) Understand the story you are telling IN THIS MOMENT
What does your character WANT in this moment?
What is your character’s journey over this song or monologue?
How does your character change from the beginning to the end of the piece?
How does your character change the listener and/or impact the story over the course of this piece?
STEP 3) What are your ACTIVE VERBS?
What does your character WANT in this moment? (I know I already said this but its IMPORTANT)
How does your character try to get what they want?
Choose at least 3 ACTIVE verbs for you as an actor to implement in telling this story. The more actionable your choices the stronger your piece will be. Map these out on your solo and figure out where each moment changes to the next
(Example: At the beginning she wants to hurt him the person she is singing to) with her word, then she breaks down in her own frustration and she wants to make him listen and understand why she is so hurt, and finally she wants to make him apologize)
STEP 4) Build a framework: print your lyrics or sheet music and write all over it in three colors
Color 1: Acting: Read it like a monologue, find the clear acting choices you want to make and map them out. THE MORE SPECIFIC YOU ARE THE BETTER!
Color 2: Vocals: Make and mark out clear vocal choices driven by the character choices. Mark out your breaths! THE MORE SPECIFIC YOU ARE THE BETTER!
Color 3: Movement This does not mean dance. But a greay solo is SPECIFIC and has “choreographed” movement not choreography. THE MORE SPECIFIC YOU ARE THE BETTER!
STEP 4) Build a framework: print your lyrics or sheet music and write all over it in three colors
Finally: Perfect practice makes perfect
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Diction
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Breath support
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Vowels
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Singing a quiet lullaby
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Belting
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Being a cartoon-like, big, overacting, over-the-top drama queen then see what you want to keep
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Being as over the top pretty as possible
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Dropping your jaw
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Relaxing your throat and tongue
Rehearse at least 3 times focusing on: Building in the tiny specific details. Find the litte wrist flick, the eye roll, the tiny flair in the music to hit a beat, THE MORE SPECIFIC YOU ARE THE BETTER!
STEP 5) FINISHING questions to ask yourself
Could you go BIGGER? Make bigger choices?
Are you as COMMITTED as you can possibly be?
Did you find ways to make any REPETITION in the song each a new and different moment? Or did you just do the same thing over and over?
Was there a LIST? A moment where your character mentioned multiple things, flavors, feelings, events etc? What did you do to make each one feel and sound different and to inject each one with color?
Are you USING EVERY MOMENT? You should be in character before the first note and until after the end of the piece. When you are finished, wait two or three breaths, living in that character and that moment that you just created. Don’t break the magic you just made yet. Then pop the bubble with a smile and a “thank you”.
Did you find the JOY? Yes every single piece, no matter how dark has moments of joy. Trust me when I say that big of light will contract and make the dark even more powerful. The dark ones need moments of joy most of all. Find them and LIGHT THEM UP.
PREPARE YOURSELF
WHAT TO WEAR
Dress Nice: think business casual or church wear. Do NOT wear leggings, flip flops, crocs, shorts, jeans, hoodies, tie dye or anything with holes in it. Wear slacks or a skirt or a simple dress or sweater.
Cosplay your character like a Disneybound. Don’t wear a costume per se but do dress in a way that makes us thing of that character. For example, if you were playing Glinda I would recommend a simple pink dress but not a ballgown. Dolly? Wear a top that has some lace and might make us think of a corset but don’t wear a corset. Ado Annie? Maybe wear boot and a cute skirt you can swoosh around but don’t come in full western gear.
Choose colors that make us think of your character: If you are playing Elphaba or Shrek wear green but don’t paint your face green (I mean you can if you want to but it’s not necessary). Playing Maysie? You better be wearing pink but don’t wear a giant feather tail.
WHAT TO BRING
Your music on a DOWNLOADED on a device IN AIRPLANE MODE. Do NOT play anything off youtube or dropbox!
A personal speaker to play the music
A friend (or chaperone) to run your music for you
Anyone else you want to invite to cheer you on. (Please BEWARE! Feelings get hurt over this one EVERY year. It’s not a popularity contest. Some people don’t want a lot of people in there watching them and thats fine but some do and don’t get it then they see others with tons of audience and feelings get hurt. Please understand, these comps are CHAOS. There will be moments when everyone is running around and certain time slots where there just aren’t many people available to done see your piece. There are other natural lulls where everyone is beat and end up clumped together and bounce between two rooms, building up a crowd of onlookers at the end of a day. You just can’t control it! You are still loved no matter what. And if you tell Kevin or Shelby that you really want them there I promise they will bend over backwards to support you!
WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE ROOM
There will be 1 -2 judges sitting at a table in the middle of a small to medium sized room. There will be an open space in front of the for you to perform and a chair will be available to you if you want it. There will be 10 - 30 chairs behind the judges also facing you. These are for your friends to sit in.
You will walk in, take a moment to queue up your music and do a quick volume check and place yourself in the center of the space in front of the judges about ten feet from them. Usually judges are just finishing up writing their notes from the person before you. When they are done they will look up at you, greet you and tell you that you may begin.
Be perky, warm and friendly. Show them your delightful self in CONTRAST to the character they about to see you play. Make them love you before you even start.
Slate! Introduce yourself with this script.
“Hi my name is ________ __________.” Pitch this DOWN it’s not a question. Then pause, take a breath and continue. Do not say ‘and’. The next part is a new sentence
“Today I will be performing _______________ from the play/musical _____________”
Go ahead and perform your heart out
When you are finished, wait two or three breaths, living in that character and that moment that you just created. Don’t break the magic you just made yet. Then pop the bubble with a smile and a “thank you” and wait for the judges feedback.
The judges may give you direct feedback, they may ask you to try something again in a different way, they may ask you the questions above and they may jump up and start teaching you a lesson. Listen, smile, try what they suggest with an open and receptive heart. You are being judged on how you take feedback.
Try to hear the GOOD parts of their feedback. It’s easy to walk out crushed with blinders on focusing only on the negative feedback. These judges are there to help you grow. They are supposed to point out what you can do better! They will critique you! Open yourself to hear the good! But also understand, the judges are just human, they are not always right and not every judge likes the same things. Some will tell you to stand still, and make eye contact with them, others will say move around and look over their heads. There is no one and only right way. But while you are in that room, try it their way.
PROTECT YOUR HEART
Please understand, this is not the same as our local dance competitions! You are not likely to go home with a trophy! You are not competing against the best the other local teams in the Bay Area have to offer, you are competing against the best the COUNTRY has to offer. You are competition against the future of Broadway. If someone wins something then we will CELEBRATE them with love and joy for them but if you don’t, we will still CELEBRATE you too because you are amazing for putting yourself out there like this!
